


Doki Doki Love University

by AmaranthPrincess21



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Dating Sim AU, F/M, Gen, game au, mentioned Jearmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3594054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmaranthPrincess21/pseuds/AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren's been trying to date Annie for a long time and when he finally gets the chance, it turns out dating is not as easy as it seems. Will the dating sim Armin's loaning him help him hone his dating skills?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doki Doki Love University

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request/prize for DA-user Greystream
> 
> This fic is loosely inspired by the _Gravity Falls_ episode "Soos and the Real Girl"

“I just don’t get what went wrong!” Eren Yeager paced his best friend Armin’s bedroom as the two hung out after school. “The date was going fine, and then Annie told me afterwards she’d call me, and it’s been three days and she won’t even say hi to me when we run into each other at school!” 

“Did you say something to make her mad?” Armin asked.

“No! At least, I don’t think I did. You know I suck at talking to girls.” Eren sank into a desk chair, head in his hands. “God, why do girls have to be so complicated?! I just want her to talk to me but she’s been ignoring me since our date.”

“Maybe you made her mad and you just don’t know what you did,” Armin shrugged. “Have you asked Mikasa about it?”

“Yeah and she doesn’t know what went wrong either! She’s just as lost as I am!” Armin sighed and stood up, walking over to his computer.

“Have you considered taking a break from Annie and dating for a while?” he suggested.

“Maybe if she’d just talk to me or text me back!” Silence hung through the air as Armin dug through his video game collection. “I just wish I was better with girls, you know? I’ve been trying to date Annie since we were in middle school and now that I’ve managed it I have no idea what to do.”

“This might help you. It helped me ask out Jean.” Armin handed his friend the game he’d been searching for. Sparkly cursive letters spelled out  _Doki Doki Love University_ over a cherry blossom-filled background. “It’s a dating sim but maybe it could help you figure out what to say on dates and with dating in general.” Eren reluctantly put the game in his backpack. In his opinion, dating sims were ridiculous and he doubted he could learn anything from it. But shoving it back in Armin’s face would hurt his feelings and Eren wasn’t about to hurt his friend who’d only been trying to help him. 

“Thanks man. I’ll try it out once I get home,” he said absentmindedly as he glanced at his watch.

The game stayed at the bottom of Eren’s backpack for the rest of the week, forgotten until Friday night as he sat in his room with nothing to do. Jean and Armin were out on a date, his sister Mikasa was out of town at a gymnastics competition, and his brother Levi was holding a party while their parents were gone. For a few minutes Eren debated whether or not he should join his brother and his friends, but ultimately he decided he’d just be intruding. 

His thoughts strayed to the game Armin had given him Monday after school.  _That sim can’t really help me, can it?_ Eren thought, his green eyes straying to his backpack.  _He did say it helped him with Horse Face. And I have no one else to help me out with this kind of thing._ He exhaled shortly and got up, fishing the game case out of his bag.  _It’s not like I have anything better to do. I’ll try it for a few minutes. If not, I’ll just start another file on_ Tales of Symphonia. 

Eren popped the brightly colored disc into his computer and opened it. Cheesy techno music sputtered out of his speakers and he could feel embarrassment surging through his veins.  _This is fucking stupid. Why the hell am I doing this?_ The startup screen came up and despite his better judgement Eren clicked the start button.  _I’ll give it five minutes, just so I can tell Armin it didn’t work and not have to lie to him._ The crappy techno music continued as the camera panned to the outside of Doki Doki Romance School or whatever the fuck it was called. 

_It’s your first day of senior year at Doki Doki Love University,_ the scrolling cursive rolled onto the screen.  _What will this year hold for you?_

_Disappointment,_ Eren thought with a smirk. A screen popped up, prompting him with a few paths to take.  _Let’s see, let’s ditch video game school because fuck that._ He clicked on the “ditch school” path and a loading screen popped up. 

Eren opened his desk drawer, pulling out a bag of fishy crackers to eat while he gamed. When he looked back at the screen it showed a rather dismal urban setting and a very pretty girl on the screen. She had shiny [h/c] hair and very large [e/c] eyes that anyone drawn in the popular anime/manga style would have. Eren didn’t consider himself weeaboo trash like Armin but he had to admit this art style was growing on him very quickly. The girl’s dialog box identified her as ???.  _What a weird name,_ Eren thought snarkily. 

“What are you doing here?” the girl asked curiously. 

Eren was prompted to respond and chose to say, “I didn’t feel like going to school today.”

“Me too!” she said excitedly. “I’m [First]! What’s your name?” 

“Eren,” he typed out into the box. 

“Eren, let’s go to the mall!” [First] said, weird pixely sparkles in her eyes. “It’ll be so much more fun than standing outside in the cold.” Eren chose the “go to the mall” option and the loading screen popped up again.  _I guess this isn’t too bad, but I don’t see how it’ll help me talk to girls,_ Eren mused as he shoved a handful of fishy crackers into his mouth. 

"Where do you want to go, Eren?" she asked. None of the options that popped up really appealed to him, but it wasn't like he could choose anything else.

"Let's go to the food court," he said.

"That's a great idea!" she exclaimed. "Let's go eat!" He let [First] decide the restaurant and where to sit. The background art of a patio setting was very well drawn. Eren had to admit, the art and graphics were really, really good.

"How long have you lived here?" [First] asked.

"I just moved here," Eren replied, just for the hell of it.  _The options on this game suck._

"That's so cool!" she said with a large smile. “Did you like it back in your hometown?”

"Yes, I did,” he responded.

“I’m new here too, actually,” she admitted as stereotypical flashback music started playing. “My parents split up and my mom and I ended up moving here.”  _Are you supposed to talk about that kind of thing on a date,_ Eren wondered, staring at the screen and his response options. This  _felt_ right; it felt like the kind of thing to talk about when you meet someone but man, was that a bombshell.  _This girl’s really open. I don’t know anybody like that. Annie’s not much of a talker and sometimes it feels like Mikasa is speaking in riddles or she’s just repeating herself. [First] is open and I mean, is this how dates are supposed to go? Is being open a good thing? I like this a lot, but this is really weird._

The more Eren played the game the more interested he became interested in this character. Sure, he was well aware [First] wasn’t real but there was something about her he really enjoyed. She was open, she was funny, she was wonderful and he really enjoyed interacting with her. [First] wasn’t real and she would never be, but that didn’t stop Eren from liking her. 

“How close are you to beating the game?” Armin asked as the two hung out at Eren’s house Friday after school. 

“No idea. I just met her parents last night,” Eren shrugged. “If the goal is marriage I still have a long way to go. Why? Do you want your game back?”

“No, I don’t. I was just wondering how far you’d gotten in the span of a week,” Armin replied. “I remember my first playthrough I was halfway done in a week but then again I’m weeb trash so I probably sped through it faster than you..”

“Yeah, I don’t want to go too fast,” Eren said. Sharp, airy pings punctuated the air as his phone went off. 

“Who is it?” Armin asked.

“It’s Annie,” Eren said as he scrolled through the text messages.

“Hey, it’s me,” her words scrolled across the screen. “Sorry for blowing you off the past few days. Can we talk?” 

“Yeah, sure,” he texted back. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to apologize. I wasn’t ready to go on that date and I should have told you. But I’m ready now and if you wanted to go on another date, I’m available sometime this weekend.”

_Really? Why wouldn’t you just tell me you weren’t ready,_ Eren thought, racking his brains and trying to come up with a response. [First] would never do this to him. She would be up front and let him know if anything was wrong.  _Maybe that’s what I need. Someone that’s open,_ he realized.

“It’s okay, Annie. But I don’t think this is going to work out. I like you and you’re a great friend, but I don’t think we’ll work out as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Okay,” she texted back. “I’ll see you on Monday, then.”

“See you.”

Armin looked over at Eren’s phone, reading the texts. “You broke up with Annie?!” he demanded.

“Yeah. She’s too secretive. It wasn’t going to work out,” Eren shrugged. He did feel a little bothered and bit upset about breaking it off, but he needed someone that was open and Annie just wasn’t that girl. He did want a relationship, he really did, but he needed a different kind of girl and maybe he just wasn’t ready for a full commitment like that. But in the meantime, he had a fun, fictional girlfriend named [First].


End file.
